Liquid or gas capacitor



April l, 1958 R. L. COOPER 2,828,769

LIQUIb '0R GAS cAPAcIToR Filed Deo. 20, 1954 INVENTOR R0 Y L COOPER BY g' ATTORNEY United States Patent LIQUID OR GAS CAPACITOR Roy L. Cooper,Waterman, Ill., assignor to Waterman Engineering Corporation, Waterman,Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application December 20, 1954, SerialNo. 476,523

1 Claim. (Cl. 13S-30) The present invention relates to means for storing-a local supply of fluid for dispensing intermittently at asubstantially constant rate higher than available from a supply sourceunder normally variable supply pressure.

The object of the present invention is to provide an accumulator in afluid supply line having a gas-cushion and a limited capacity for quickdispensing of a limited quantity of said fluid independently of thenormally available slower rate of supply through said line.

A further object is to form this accumulator by a flexible wall in arigid vessel separating the accumulator chamber from the gas-cushion.

A further object is to provide a rigid operated support for theseparating wall across the vessel, with the flexible wall on theair-cushion side of said support.

A further object is to make this flexible wall in Sylphon form open atthe support end with rigid compression limiting rings inside of theridges of the Sylphon and rigid expansion limiting rings on the outsideof the grooves, so as to provide free collapsing and expandingcharacteristics to said accumulator.

A further object is to make the ring material of sulliciently largeradius to prevent sharp folds at the ridges and grooves in the flexiblewall material when it is fully collapsed.

A further object is to form a perforated cylindrical depression in thesupport to provide a guide for the groove portions and a rest for theclosed end of the wall in its fully collapsed condition.

A further object is to provide the closed end of the flexible wall witha rigid plate which may be integral with the ring inside the last ridgeof the Sylphon.

A further object is to provide gas sealed under pressure outside of saidaccumulator wall in said rigid vessel to form a resilient cushion intowhich the accumulator might expand at leisure after each dispensingoperation.

Other and more specific objects of this invention will become apparentin the following detailed description of a preferred form as applied toa water dispensing device for use in water mixture vending machines,when taken together with the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is aplan view of the accumulator.

Figure 2 is an elevational view thereof partly in section, showing theaccumulator wall extended.

Figure 3 is a partial sectional View thereof, showing the accumulatorWall fully collapsed.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is an elevational view of the accumulator connected in thesupply line and a ydispensing cup being filled at a suitably high rateby the aid of the accumulator.

Although the device shown in the drawing for purposes of illustration ofthe invention, is a water capacitor for use in water dispensing meansfor water mixture vending machines, it will be understood that this sortof device is useful for many other purposes where the available supplyof fluid from its source under pressure is unsteady or insutlicient tomeet the desired constant rate of limited ICC quantities that may bedemanded at intervals. This device will smoothen out the unsteadypressure of the supply and will accumulate limited quantities of theliquid which are supplied at a low rate between the intervals of itsdemand and will supply the fluid locally at a sufficiently high rate asmay be desired.

Referring to the drawing, the device comprises a rigid vessel 10 ofcylindrical form with a supply valve 11 attached to its bottom 12, forsupplying a charge of compressed gas to and sealing it off in thecushion space 13 on the outside of the accumulator separating Wall. 14.

Wall 14 is of impervious flexible material made in sylphonic form openat the top with an outwardly ex tending concentric flange 15 -at thetop. The outer edge of flange 15 is clamped with periphery of theperforated A support 16 between the flange 17 at the top of vessel 10and its cover 18 by bolts 19 and nuts 20 to define an accumulatorchamber. Cover 18 has inlet 21 and outlet 22 for connection in thesupply line 23, which in the present instance is provided with apressure control valve `24, a pressure gage 25 at the inlet side of theaccumulator device and a control valve 26 and an electrically operatedvalve 27 at the outlet side. The dispensing cup 28 is shown being filledduring a dispensing interval when the accumulator operates to fill thecup promptly with the required amount of water for the mixture beingdispensed, independently of the slower rate of supply presumablyavailable through the pressure control valve 24 from the water supplysource.

Wall 14 may be made of suitable plastic substantially non-elasticmaterial. It is provided with compression limiting rings 29 inside theridges of the Sylphon and with expansion limiting rings 30 on theoutside of the Wall in the grooves. These rings `are made of rigidmaterial circular in section and of a sufficient radius to prevent sharpfolds of the flexible wall at the ridges and grooves when the wall isfully collapsed, in order to avoid fatigue cracks or cracks due tosetting of the sharp folds when not in use for extended periods in thefully collapsed condition and consequent failure of this wall inservice.

The ring inside the last ridge at the closed end of the Sylphon may bemade integral with a rigid end plate 31 having a centrally disposedaperture 32, the plate being arched to provide rigidity to the plate.This is to prevent impingement of the successive folds of the wallaxially between the successive rings when the Sylphon is fully collapsedat the end of a dispensing period if the pressure in the cover 18 isreduced below that in the cushion space 13 at that time. This isattained with the assistance of a cylindrical perforated depression 33formed in the support 16, the bottom end of which provides a stop forthe plate and ring to prevent such impingement and to permit the closedend of the flexible wall to take on an arched form consonant with thefullest collapse of the flexible wall without forming any sharp bends orfolds therein. The depression 33 may be entirely open at the bottom, asshown in Figure 3. Besides providing a stop for the end wall plate 31,it also serves as a guide for the inside of the Sylphon grooves as theflexible wall collapses. Hence a uniformly ample flow of fluid isprovided out of the accumulator when the outlet valve 27 is opened and aprompt emptying thereof is accomplished independently of the availablerate of supply from the supply source, by reason of the substantiallysteady high pressure in the cushion space 13.

This device may be adapted to other useful purposes as mentioned above,whether the intermittent dispensing is of a measured quantity of thefluid, supplied or not, and whether the fluid is a gas or a liquid.

Thus many obvious modifications in thev form and proportion of thisdevice may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of thisinvention, as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

An accumulator comprising a hollow body having an open end, a Wallcarried by the body and closing the opposite end thereof to definetherewith a rigid vessel, a hollow uid impervious extensible membercarried by the body in closing relation to the open end thereofextending thereinto to dene within said body a cushion space, a hollowcover carried by the body and extending across the end thereof remotefrom the Wall to define with the extensible member an accumulatorchamber, said cover having a iluid inlet port through which i'luid maybe introduced into the accumulator chamber to fill said chamber andextend the extensible member against the for supporting said end wall, asupport carried by the rigid vessel and extending across the open endthereof adjacent the cover, and a cylindrical stop carried by thesupport and extending into the hollow extensible member for engagingsaid arched plate at the end thereof remote from the cover to preventthe complete collapse and possible deilection thereof into the coverunder the influence of fluid within the cushion space said plateenclosed in said extensible member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS381,731 Walker Apr. 24, 1888 1,561,065 Eggleston Nov. 10, 1925 1,661,131Duiiield Feb. 28, 1928 1,875,732 Holttum Sept. 6, 1932 2,401,792Overbeke June 11, 1946 2,411,315 Ashton Nov. 19, 1946 2,682,893 ZieboldJuly 6, 1954.

